The Herald (Zimbabwe)

NSAS on Covid-19 testing

- Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Aquatic Union president, Mary Kloppers, says they face fi nancial limitation­s to fully ensure they follow all the guidelines by the Government related to Covid- 19 prevention.

Th ese include testing of all their members.

“Unfortunat­ely, we do not have funds to permit such testing,’’ she said.

“Currently, we are working on competitio­n guidelines, however, we do not expect to start competing any time soon.

“Our requiremen­ts for offi cials only is more than 30 people, at any one time and, until restrictio­n on numbers are lifted, we cannot consider holding competitio­ns.

“Our competitio­ns usually begin in September, so we are not at a disadvanta­ge yet.

“All regional and continenta­l competitio­ns have been suspended for the rest of the year.’’

Although there won’t be competitio­n, any time soon, clubs were now operating within the agreed guidelines.

Tennis is also back, with players training at various clubs, and Tennis Zimbabwe are happy with the response from their members in terms of adhering to the guidelines.

TZ president, Biggie Magarira, said the fi nancial requiremen­ts involved in testing players was the stumbling block but they have stuck to the guidelines from the Government and their internatio­nal federation.

Triathlon Zimbabwe vice- president, Pamela Fulton, said with their season, usually taking off in September, they have no yet discussed the possibilit­y of having tests for their athletes and offi cials.

“We only start our season in September, so we haven’t discussed that. We have gone through the whole procedure and reassessin­g our venues for the safety of athletes.

“Yes, we have done a lot of work, when we get to that time, I guess, we will have to discuss that.

“A lot could change between now and September, normally our season starts in September but, due to Covid- 19, we might start in October, we will be assessing that,” said Fulton. National Athletics Associatio­n of Zimbabwe president, Tendai Tagara, pointed out it would be expensive for them to conduct the tests.

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